Ippudo @ Mandarin Gallery, Singapore

The main highlight of our trip to Singapore (other than the Wicked musical of course =P) was going to eat yummy tonkotsu ramen. It was a tug of war between Ippudo and Tampopo. After lots of researching, we decided to go with Ippudo.

      

Cute logo

     

Expect long queues

     
Ippudo is so popular that there is always a queue for it even at 3pm!

    

Menu

     
Basically you choose the type of ramen you want on the left page and proceed to the add-ons on the right page.

      

Love their black wooden chopsticks =)

       

Hot & Iced Ocha

      

Complimentary Condiments

    
Cloves of raw garlic and a garlic press were available should you wish to add some kick to the ramen and your breath.
   
It seems like restaurants in Singapore favour this sort of sesame seed dispenser. Both JS and I prefer grinding the sesame seeds to release the fragrant aroma.

    

Loading the pungent missiles

      

Squeeze!

        

Karaka Tamago (SGD 19)

   
The Karaka Tamago is basically tonkotsu broth mixed with special spicy miso laden with minced pork and the ever popular Japanese boiled egg. No comment on this as I did not try it but it must have been good otherwise our foodie friend would not have ordered it =P

     

Akamaru Chashu (SGD 19)

   
A warning: health junkies stay awayyyyyyyyy!!!! This dish of tonkotsu broth and special miso paste with fragrant garlic oil is highly recommended. It comes with chashu, strips of woodear fungus and finely diced spring onions. After you mix everything together, you can see a layer of over the soup as well as bits of white fat floating on the surface. Once you get past the idea of drinking oil and fats, you'll experience the wonderful robust and complex flavour of the dish which is really like no other. I can't describe the complexity of the soup very well - it's just something you have to try for yourself =)

     

Shiromaru Tamago (SGD 17)

 
The Shiromaru Tamago consists of pure tonkotsu broth served with pork loin chashu, cabbage, spring onions, woodear fungus, pickled ginger and Japanese-style boiled egg. It is a wonderful dish on its own but it definitely pales in comparison to the Akamaru broth. For those who can't stand bits of fats and oil floating in your soup, this is the one for you.
 
Ippudo's ramen certainly lives up to its name, springy ramen with flavourful soup. Luckily for you (and us), there is no need to travel all the way to Singapore just to sample yummy ramen anymore as Ippudo will soon be opening an outlet in KL so do check it out once it's opened!

PawPoints: 5 Paws

   
Ippudo

Somerset MRT
#04-02/03/04, Mandarin Gallery
333 Orchard Road
Singapore
Tel: +65 6235 2797
Mon - Sat: 11am - 11pm
Sun: 11am - 10pm

Menya Musashi @ 1 Utama, PJ

The newest ramen kid on the block is none other than Menya Musashi but it has gained fame at an incredible pace, thanks to its wonderful ramen which many rank as the tastiest in town. I highly recommend you to try it but if you're a healthy eater, best to avoid the place - scroll down to find out why =)
   
The ramen here is as authentic as those in Japan as evidenced by the numerous native Japanese eating here with their families and also by the yakuza-looking boss who walks around the restaurant to ensure that customers are happy and the kitchen is running smoothly. 

      

Menya Musashi

     

See the long queue even at 11am?

   
The owner really looks like the samurai painted on the scroll! He is an imposing figure with his tall and well-built stature, hakama and clip-clopping elevated wooden clogs. That's him on the menu below =P

      

Menu

   
The menu is relatively simple but that's the point of a specialised ramen-ya. It also helps to ensure that the ramen is served quickly.

      

Love the unique addition of mixed white, black and Szechuan peppercorns as well as chilli oil

       

Restaurant decor

      

Ice-cold green tea

   
I love the cold green tea here (there's no option for hot green tea). It has a very strong and refreshing green tea taste which is not found in the usual mall-situated Japanese restaurants. The fact that it is ice-cold helps "dissolve" the oil and fats from the ramen and cleanse your palate.

      

Kuro Musashi Ramen (RM 26)

   
This is the signature ramen with chashu and half an aji tamago. There are 3 choices for the soup base - shiro which is essentially white in colour and consists of onion-flavoured oil, kuro meaning black which is derived from the oil of fried shallots and garlic oil, and aka which consists of chilli oil to give it the reddish colour.
     
We had the kuro ramen and as you can see from the picture above, the colour of the soup really is black! Fret not as it is very fragrant and tasty. However there is a layer of oil sitting on top of the soup which will deter most healthy eaters and weight watchers, but if the oil is not present, the taste of the ramen would be less dimensional and bland. The method to disperse off the oil is to mix it all up, ramen and soup, and watch as the layer of oil magically melts away =)

• The ramen here is extremely springy and unstarchy - I'd rate this the best ramen in town at the moment as it definitely beats Marutama and a lot of friends have said it even tops Santouka
• The pork broth is heavily flavoured with garlic and shallot oil and is really satisfying
• The addition of bamboo shoots and finely sliced spring onions and leeks gives a nice crunchy coating to the ramen - ms. bulat gushed continuously about the bamboo shoots, saying it's the best she ever tasted and proceeded to finish them =P
• As you can see, the chashu here is a huge slab of juicy tender pork with appropriate ratio of lean meat and fats. It is so huge that even I feel two pieces is more than I can take O.O
• The aji tamago is perfect with solid whites and half-runny yolks

      

Musashi Tsukemen (RM 27)

   
I've always wanted to try tsukemen and finally, it's available in KL! The tsukemen is identical to the Musashi Ramen but the soup and noodles are served separately. The broth for the tsukemen is a lot richer, saltier and thicker with a lot more of finely sliced spring onions and leeks. This is to allow the broth to adequately coat and flavour the ramen when you dip it in before eating. It is indeed an unusual way to eat it and I suggest that everyone try it at least once. Although it is very tasty, I think I'll stick to Musashi Ramen the next time I return or perhaps eat it once a year as the dipping broth is just too salty for me.

      

Tsukemen eating method

   
The owner knows that tsukemen is not well known so he has included a tutorial on each table, how thoughtful!

     

Gyoza (RM 9)

     
We also had the gyoza which came in 5 pieces and the customary vinegar dip. It is sufficiently good with a good portion of yummy minced pork and vegetable filling and moist yet well grilled skin.
   
To close this post, I must reiterate (strongly) that Menya Musashi is really good and you should try it and see for yourself =D Oh and I just found out they've got another branch on Jalan P Ramlee near KLCC so I can go there during lunch on weekdays yay!

   
 
PawPoints: 5 Paws
Pawket: Tomato
     
Menya Musashi

Eat Paradise @ Isetan
1 Utama Shopping Centre
Daily: 11am - 10pm

Ramen Ya @ Melbourne

We have always wanted to try ramen in tonkotsu broth so after reading about the hunt for the best ramen in Melbourne here, we decided to pop over to Ramen Ya when in Melbourne for a taste of the famous pork broth.
 

Ramen Ya

Name Card

 
The address I copied from the internet was different from where the shop is located so we were lucky to have chanced upon it on our way to the copied address otherwise we would have missed it altogether unless there is another branch numbered 350...
  

Interior

  
I love the interior which was decorated with giant vases of cherry blossom stalks!
  

Genmaicha

  
As part of the set I ordered, genmaicha was served in a unique porcelain cup complete with tea strainer and cover. The design on the porcelain mug was very Oriental-ish and reminded me of ancient porcelain tableware in old Chinese shops. The genmaicha tea leaves had bits of roasted rice mixed in which gave the tea a much stronger aroma compared to instant genmaicha powder/ tea bags.
  

Cha Siu Ramen Set with Gyoza and Genmaicha (AUD 15)

 

• Broth and noodles were good.
• Cha Siu could have been better as they were not melt-in-your-mouth kind.
• Boiled egg did not have runny yolk as expected to be the norm of Japanese ramen.
• Gyoza was soft and small in size - you can easily pop the whole thing in your mouth. I thought they were nice but JS thought that he had tasted better ones.

 

Tsukune Ramen (AUD 11)

 
The ramen in tonkotsu broth with minced meat was okay only to me. Nothing special about it.
 

Takoyaki (AUD 6)

 
We could not resist ordering the Takoyaki after seeing it on the menu. The fact that the waitresses were from Japan added to our determination. The Takoyaki came with lots of bonito flakes but seemed to be missing the sprinkling of dried seaweed. The Takoyaki were soft with a moist center - much better than the Jusco Takoyaki in KL. Our only gripe was that there was insufficient filling (i.e. only a minuscule piece of octopus) and its small size.
 

PawPoints: 3 Paws

 

http://www.ramenya.com.au/
 

Ramen Ya

Shop 9 The Paramount

108 Bourke Street

Melbourne CBD

Tel: 03 9662 1001

Mon - Tue: 11am - 5pm

Wed - Sat: 11am - 9pm

Sun: 12pm - 4pm

Shou Sumiyaki Sake Bar and Grill @ Melbourne

It was by chance that we found this restaurant. For our Australia trip, we had the food trail all planned out through advance research on the affordable yet yummy places at each stop. On the last day, we had planned to go for yummy crispy pork belly sandwich at EARL Canteen and banh mi at Nhu Lan after reading about the latter here.
 

We went to Nhu Lan - the shop on Victoria Street had been demolished(!!!) to make way for some new office tower or other and the second outlet at Footscray was too far away. So off we headed to EARL Canteen on Bourke Street for some crackling comfort. It was a long walk as the shop was numbered 500. When we reached it, it was closed as it was located at the business district where all the adjacent premises were closed on a Saturday =.= We decided to make a last ditch attempt to eat banh mi at another outlet called N Lee Bakery on nearby Little Collins Street as I don't think banh mi is available in KL. We walked all the way back where we came from as N Lee is numbered 62 only to find out that the shop too is also closed -_____________________________-" Aren't most Asian shops open all day???
 

After being disappointed thrice, I decided I had to have some Japanese to cheer myself up. Off we went to Little Bourke Street for some pick-me-up. The shop front of Shou Sumiyaki looked very posh and we would never have entered had it not been for the menu proclaiming ramen lunch sets ranging between AUD 14 to AUD 16 <big grin>
    

Posh Japanese restaurant

Bar Counter

Ocha and Genmaicha

The tea is served in an authentic ceramic pot that looks like it was handcrafted individually based on the pot designs. Gosh I just love all these ceramicware - I swear I'm going to buy tons of this when I go to Japan and ship them back to KL d^^b 

Minced garlic, chilli pepper flakes and soy sauce

Appetiser

As part of the lunch set, we were served an appetiser of the day which was cucumber salad dressed in sesame sauce with a few slices of wagyu beef. Very dainty presentation. The cucumber salad was very refreshing and tasted great with the coating of sesame sauce and sprinkling of lightly toasted sesame seeds. The three small slices of blanched wagyu beef were very tender and yummy. 

Salmon sashimi

JS ordered the Salmon Sashimi Ramen Set which came with three slices of salmon sashimi which were very fresh and juicy. Unfortunately, it did not top Munakata's, possibly because the ones at Shou were not as thick as the ones at Munakata. 

Gyoza

I had the Gyoza Ramen Set which came with three (probably the shop owner's favourite number) pieces of gyoza, vinegarish dressing and a side salad. The gyozas were lightly pan fried resulting in a rather soft dumpling. I used the term "vinegarish" dressing as the sauce was not as sour as vinegar should be but it still went well with the gyozas. It also gave the otherwise plain salad a bit of flavour. 

Tonkotsu Ramen with Char Siu

All ramen sets came with char siu with a choice between miso or tonkotsu broth. Being deprived of pork (me more so than JS), we of course chose the tonkotsu broth. As befitting a posh place, the ramen did not disappoint. The broth was thick and flavourful, somewhat like drinking your mum's homemade pork bone soup. The addition of fried garlic bits in the soup added to the flavour. If you do not like garlic then it would be a bit of a pain trying to prevent the golden bits floating into the soup ladle.
 

The ramen was springy and not starchy and went well with the bamboo shoots, spring onions, bean sprouts and sliced woodear fungus. The boiled egg was perfectly done with a firm yet runny golden yolk.
 

The highlight was the char siu. Thick slices of melt-in-your-mouth meat, it was a mixture of both lean meat and fat and both were tender and meltingly soft.

PawPoints: 4 Paws

http://www.shousumiyaki.com.au/

Shou Sumiyaki Sake Bar and Grill

160 Little Bourke Street

Melbourne CBD

Tel: 03 9654 3993

Tue - Sun: 12pm - 3pm (Lunch)

Sun - Thu: 5pm - 10pm (Dinner)

Fri - Sat: 5pm - 12am (Dinner)

Marutama Ra-Men @ Fahrenheit 88, KL

We first tried Marutama Ra-Men at Singapore more than a year ago and ever since then, we've been planning for an opportunity to return and get our paws on their slurpylicious noodles and excellent broth. Imagine our surprise when we found out (6 months after it first opened its doors in Malaysia -_-") that there is a branch at Fahrenheit 88! Of course we wasted no time in heading there to try it...

Huge logo on shop front

Front of menu

Types of broth available

Aka Tamago Ramen

• Comes with a lemon wedge to add some zest to the flavourful broth which is apparently made from a blend of seven (!!!) kinds of groundnuts. 
• Broth is cloudy with nutty chicken goodness. No trace of nuts which shows how fine the blend is.
• Has three chicken meatballs which are thankfully not the frozen starchy kind. Wouldn't mind exchanging the meatballs for the char siu but unfortunately, all versions of Aka Ramen are served with chicken meatballs.
• Mounds of parsley, spring onion, seaweed and raw marinated jellyfish add a nice contrasting texture to each bite of springy noodles.
• Soy sauce stewed egg is always boiled to perfection with a meltingly firm yet not hard centre. Definitely springy noodles' best friend =P

Char Siu Tamago Ramen

• Char Siu is superb - the melt-in-your-mouth kind. Not too fatty and the lean parts are soft and tender.
• Broth is full (and I really mean full) of chicken flavour. Very very concentrated chicken stock which gives off a sort of homemade feel as though your grandmother has just spent hours slaving in front of the kitchen stove rather than those made from instant Maggi stock cubes.
• Other condiments are similar to the ones in Aka Ramen with the exception of jellyfish.

Yaki Char Siu

Wow if the Char Siu is good, then the Yaki Char Siu is excellent!! The minute it arrived on the table, the tantalising aroma of grilled pork immediately wafted to our nostrils, begging us to eat it at once - it is that good <wanders off to GrilledPorkLand, still salivating...>

• Slice of lemon and chilli pepper powder are served with the Yaki Char Siu.
• Caramelised bits contribute to the deliciousness of the grilled pork (and if you're lucky, the fatty parts). Both the charred and not-so-charred lean parts remain tender with no hints of chewiness. Good pork!

PawPoints: 5 Paws
Pawket: Tomato

Marutama Ra-Men 
Lot Flr. 27.01, 1st Floor
Fahrenheit 88, Bukit Bintang
Tel: 03 2141 1573
Mon-Sun: 11.30am - 10.00pm